My U10 son has been on the same team since U8. We have a great group of parents and boys. This year there have been some change in players. Some went onto Academy teams/picked another sport and not so talented/experienced kids have replaced them. Now there is a huge gap in the skill level between most of the old(8) and new players(6). Until this fall they have always been a Division 1 team. They have lost every game this fall. I could care less if they win but it is really starting to discourage my son. The inexperienced players are frustrating him and he has started talking about looking for a new team. I think I have talked him into sticking it out for the spring and waiting for tryouts in May too consider changing teams. I really do not want to go out-of-town but I also don't want him to quit soccer. We have three other kids that play in-town and are challenged enough with their schedules. They are the A team so moving up is not an option. Playing up is also not an option as the U11B team is in Division 5, might as well stay where he is. There is no way he would make the U11A team. We also have the challenge of moving to U11 next fall. If we lose some boys, we might not have enough to make 2 teams. We like the group and really don't want to leave but... Has anyone had a similar situation and how did it work out?
That is tough. Unfortunately this happens often in community based programs and only gets worse as the kids get older. Rarely are weaker players replaced by stronger players. It is almost always the opposite.
I'm in a very similar situation with my U11 daughter, so I started a thread in the Girls Youth Soccer section that got a lot of great responses from experienced parents and soccer people. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=713557 One question to ask is whether your son is in a good training environment. If he is, then it's worth sticking things out a while. However, at some point good players need to play with other good players to continue their development. That's what that thread discusses. Lot's of good stuff to think about in there, so check it out.
I think you have to begin by determining what you and your son's short and long term goals are in soccer. If it is for him to be the best player he can be as he ages, this is a pretty important age to which that foundation is built and most important at this age is that he's with the best coach available regardless of the team's wins and losses. At his age, the coach should be focused on developing the technical skills of his players. If he/she is, you will be surprised at how quickly the currently weaker kids can get up to speed and become bigger contributors to the team's success. If that's not the case, then I personally would be looking elsewhere, but then I don't have 3 other kids to consider either.
Is your son discouraged to the point that he doesn't like going to soccer at all? Is he no longer having fun? If that happens, its time to switch teams. My son's teams over the past few years have not been the strongest in their league. They won some, but lost most of them. Through it all, the players genuinely enjoyed being with each other. They had fun, and they improved. I found that my wife and I got more discouraged than my son did, who seemed to forget about the loss an hour after the game. He was always pumped to go to practice and have a good time with his team. If your son is improving and having fun, and he looks forward to soccer, then there is no need to switch teams. Winning doesn't mean anything at the U10 level. If your coach makes practice fun (3 hours a week), then a game that lasts an hour (a loss) doesn't mean much. There will be plenty of time for winning. At the U10 level, it should be about learning the game, developing skills, and having fun.
You may be on the cusp of making a decision to move anyway. At the U11 & U12 age brackets kids start opting to concentrate on their preferred sport (which may not be soccer) or they become conflicted with middle school sports. Worse, this is when teams move up to 11 v 11 and need more kids. Almost every club has fewer teams at those age levels because of it and/or they suffer a drop off in quality. I have seen clubs in the St. Louis area with NO U12B teams. If your son is focused on soccer it is probably a good idea to look for a team in the next year or so with more similar minded kids and a good coach.